Expedia Media Solutions integrates social media capabilities

20 November 2011

Expedia® Media Solutions, the advertising sales division of global online travel leader Expedia, Inc., today announced that at the end of November it will begin beta testing a social integration opportunity that allows partners to enhance existing advertising campaigns with social media elements. This offering will be tested by select Expedia partners from now through the end of December and will be offered to all partners in Q1 2012.

A recent study commissioned by Expedia Media Solutions and conducted by Compete shows that Facebook campaigns generate stronger cross-visitation between a brand's website and corresponding Facebook Page, as well as drive stronger brand loyalty and engagement. By extending Expedia.com promotions to include social components that drive fans to the brand's own social media properties, brands have an additional path to increase exposure and initiate authentic engagement with a highly relevant audience.

The social integration opportunity allows Expedia.com partners to enhance site sponsorships and custom solutions with social media elements created and implemented by the Expedia Media Solutions team. Varying levels of integration and customization will be available and correlate with the scope of the partnership. The social media enhancements create a two-pronged, cross-promotional opportunity for partners – to grow their own social communities through their Expedia.com-based presence and, for a select set of partners, to collaborate with the world's largest online travel agency to offer customers exclusive content through the existing US Expedia.com social channels.

Core to the program are two ways for partners to enhance their Expedia.com-based campaign sites:

Content published to a partner's Facebook Page can be brought onto the Expedia.com landing page so customers are drawn deeper into the interaction with their page.

This new social integration opportunity was developed based on feedback from customers and partners who participated in the successful Expedia.com FriendTrips Facebook® campaign earlier this year. The campaign became the biggest sweepstakes in Facebook history and in just six weeks grew Expedia's fan base 770 percent, from 130,000 to more than 1 million. While the campaign was a huge success for the Expedia brand, the campaign also brought customers closer to the nine travel brands who worked with Expedia Media Solutions to sponsor the campaign. Through the campaign, consumers had access to exclusive content from Expedia and sponsoring partners. As a result, customers raved about the campaign and travel brands reaped the benefits of strong engagement while Expedia did the heavy lifting including concept development, creative, implementation and promotion.

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#34;The FriendTrips campaign resonated well with both partners and customers in an organic, authentic way and as a result, our partners sought additional ways to collaborate with us on social media integrations," said Noah Tratt, vice president, Expedia Media Solutions. "By bringing social capabilities into partners' Expedia.com landing pages and allowing them to offer exclusive content to our mutual customers, partners can take their social media efforts to the next level without the hefty investment successful social enhancements typically require. Consumers also walk away happier with both brands illustrating that this integration is cooperation at its best."

Beta testing of the social integration opportunity will close in late December and the offering will be available for Expedia.com partners shortly thereafter.